So you want to be productive? Do you want to accomplish a lot of things? Do you want to make the most of your time?

But the question is not so much about HOW you will be able to accomplish them. The question really is, “WHY?”

Why do you want to accomplish those things in the first place?

Why are you starting that business? What’s your purpose?

Why do you need to submit your school requirements this week? Why are you in school in the first place?

Why do you want to earn your target income? What is that money for?

Why do you want to accomplish your ministry goals this week? What is your purpose for doing ministry work?

Why do you want to evangelize your target number of people? What is your purpose for reaching out to people?

What is it that you really want to accomplish?

Who are you really working for?

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
Matthew 6:24 NIV

You gave your life to Jesus. He deserves to be your master and no one (and nothing) else–not money, your family, your job, your boss, your business, your ministry, your church, your religion, your country, your ideology, or anything else. Not even yourself.

Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. We cannot bear fruits apart from him.

We need to ask ourselves, “Are we trying to produce fruits on our own? Or are we relying on the vine, holding on to Jesus so we can bear fruits?”

Surrender your goals to Jesus. All your desires and aspirations. Lay them all down at his feet. Deny yourself and take up your cross daily.

Before you think about how you can accomplish your goals, ask yourself: “Why am I pursuing these things? What does God want me to do?”

Photo by Andreas Klassen on Unsplash

To be productive is to be fully given to God’s purpose and God’s plan. You’re no longer after your own plans. Your main concern is to follow God and pursue his purpose for your life. It’s all about the eternal purpose of God.

God’s ways are not always logical.

Logic can be an idol. So don’t trust in logic. Trust in the Lord instead. Even when he seems to be illogical.

Logic is all about trusting in reason. But FAITH is all about trusting in God, even when it’s not reasonable.

How do you trust in God?

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
Romans 10:17 ESV

The more you hear God’s word, the more FAITH is developed in you.

What we need is to develop our sense of faith. In the same way that we have our five senses (sight, smell, sound, touch, and taste), we also have our sense of faith. When you see an object, you know it exists simply because you see it. When you “sense” it by faith, you know it is true because God says it.

“For we live by faith, not by sight.”
2 Corinthians 5:7 NIV

We no longer live by our physical senses, putting our trust in logic and reason. But by faith, we hear God’s voice and take action based on what he says because we know God’s word is true.

Here is an audio recording of John 15:1-16 I created with some instrumental worship music in the background. I hope listening to this audio recording helps you build your faith as you listen to God’s word.

Listen to God’s word.

Walk by faith.

Take action.

I made a commitment to myself at the start of this year to publish a blog post every Tuesday. I thought that that was a great way for me to hone my writing skills and serve my audience at the same time.

The first few weeks were great and I was consistent in publishing an article every Tuesday. But then on the eighth week, I missed my publishing schedule but still managed to release a post that same week. Then the following week, I missed the Tuesday release again. I tried to catch up and I was able to publish Friday of that same week. But then the following week, I completely failed to publish any article.

So what went wrong? What kept me from sticking with my commitment for three consecutive weeks?

I have been pondering why I had been procrastinating about writing my blog and I think I have discovered the main culprit.

I believe FEAR is the greatest enemy of FRUITFULNESS.

I have noticed that I would always find a reason to postpone my writing task until it’s already the last minute. Here are some of the ways I procrastinate:

• • I drown myself in distractions. I watch videos on Youtube, scroll endlessly on Facebook, listen to podcasts, or read various books.
  • I tell myself that I’m overwhelmed with the other tasks I need to do that week.
  • I feel too lazy to write.
  • I feel like I need to do more important tasks first before I can get back on my writing.

Why do I keep on avoiding the task of writing until it’s already the last minute? I have figured out that the main reason I procrastinate is FEAR.

I’m afraid of failure. I’m afraid I won’t be able to write the perfect article. I’m afraid that my writing will turn out to be rubbish. And because of my fear, I would rather do something else than face the agony of trying to do something that might lead to failure.

Facing my fear of failure is very painful to me emotionally. It stresses me out even just thinking about it. To avoid the pain, I instead turn to pleasure. I drown out the pain by watching videos, reading books, and distracting myself with other things to escape the struggle for productivity.

How can I combat fear?

Here are two things I plan on doing to fight against the fear of failure:

1. Set a real deadline for the task. The deadline has to be clear and specific. Instead of saying, “I need to publish a blog post every Tuesday”, I must say “I need to publish my blog post by 10 am every Tuesday.

I realized that I haven’t set a specific time for my deadline because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to make it on my set time.

Making my deadline clear and specific will help me follow through on my commitment. Not having a specific time for my deadline could easily lead me to postpone it.

2. Take action. Faith is the antidote to fear. And faith is all about taking action.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Hebrews 11:1 NKJV

Faith is substance and evidence, therefore, it is tangible. It starts from the inside as a belief and is expressed in action as the substance of that belief.

In my case, I need to believe that I can write something worth publishing. I must believe that God will always help me serve my audience through writing. I need to abolish my false beliefs using the truth of God’s word.

There will always be a possibility that I won’t be able to write the best article or that some people might not like it. But this should not stop me from serving through writing.

I am writing this very article right now because I believe God has given me a gift of communication and he has given me some insights that can help my readers in their journey towards fruitfulness. It will be a disservice to you, my reader, if I don’t put this article out.

I am also writing this on a more specific deadline. I only have a few minutes left before I hit “publish”.

I hope you’ve gained some useful insights from these reflections of mine that will also help you fight against procrastination.